Coldshort's Company - Playground Options

[Ahrenil]

Laura looked around her as they moved further into the compound. The shacks were nothing but a loose collection of nails, plywood and corrugated iron sheeting. Then again, that's what everything looked like in this part of the wasteland. Far away from any of the large hubs of "civilisation" the people relied on what they had. Deeper into the site the loose gravel and dry earth gave way to cracked concrete paving around the warehouse, too thick to lay foundations in the locals had left it well alone giving a clear field around the looming structure.

"Good idea, if it's quiet there i'm calling everyone in to search. This place is a ghosttown for now, and i'd rather not be here longer than I have to be..." Laura muttered to Keara, keeping her hands away from the pistol at her hip.

The barracks was easily the second largest structure in town, and almost qualified to be called an actual building. It looked less rickety and more well used than anything else in town, probably doubled as a general meeting hall as well. Laura doubted it's use as a true barracks, this place looked more like everyone would have chipped in to fight when raiders arrived, a dedicated military branch would have been a bit beyond them.

"Okay, head around the back, see if you can get a look in through a window. I'm gonna see if anyones home" Laura said to Keara, moving towards the front door of the barracks.

This post has been edited by Ahrenil: Jun 18 2011, 06:06 PM

[ureniashtram]

OOC: Do we really need a brute (unarmed, melee guy)? I mean, we got a three hundred pound of pure muscle right here.


Alexei

"You know what is stranger, comrade?" The ghoul whispered back, nervous eyes suddenly concentrating on the barracks door. "The flies. A group of the little bastards are circling at the door." While he didn't completely see them, the little black points flying around confirmed it. Plus, the buzzing of a hungry swarm. What it could possibly mean? Are the wasters here completely unhygienic to the point flies gather 'round them? Or did they left something rotten behind? Probably just rotten meat. The thought of meat made Alexei's mouth water, until he got to the rotten and flies part.

Hmm. Rotting. Flies. Rotting. Flies... Alexei's eyes suddenly widened and his breath took rapid momentum. And then the smell from the shack the two took cover wafted in through cracks and into Alexei's nostrils. Metallic. A residue of sudden death. Blood. Things just got ... interesting.

"Jonathan," he whispered. "I just smelled something that was not meant to be smelled. Blood. Inside this shack. What do we do? Should we tell Laura?"

[jack cloudy]

Jonathan

Jonathan's worries deepened when Alexei mentioned the smell of blood. He himself hadn't smelled anything that seemed out of place. Just the usual stench of rust and random garbage. Then again, if Alexei said he smelled something wrong, there was a bad scent in the air. Jonathan trusted the ghoul well enough to believe him especially since they had both agreed something was off since the beginning.

"Hmm, we would have to give up our cover for that though, wouldn't we? If it ends up this shack is just an unclean butchery, we would blow the whole plan out of the water and Laura would be none too pleased with that. Then again...I think we'd better confirm the nature of this shack for ourselves first. If I can just find a crack big enough to look through." He whispered back.
"Let's do this. I take a quick peek through this crack right here next to my foot. I probably won't be able to see the whole place, but I won't need to. Stuff like an animal carcass on a table, or some butcherytools lying about, no problem. If I don't see something offering a good explanation, we'll have to call Laura's attention."

[ureniashtram]

Alexei


"You do that," he whispered to the man. Then out of the blue, Alexei whispered his true opinion.

"I'm beginning to think that we should get the hell outta here. Regroup with the others at Megaton and find another contract.. Think about it, comrade. The miraculous appearance of that damned contractor during our time of need, the seemingly easy task for such a handsome reward . . . Can't you just think that maybe, just maybe, that contractor was just too good to be true?"

It was, at least in his point of view. At first, he contemplated on voicing his feelings about the contract to Laura. But at the time, things were going downhill for the Company. They were dwindling on both general supplies and ammunition. So in desperation, Alexei dropped the subject, ignoring his inner gut warning.

But now, he was staring to regret it.

This post has been edited by ureniashtram: Jun 19 2011, 02:28 PM

[Dantrag]

Laura looked around her as they moved further into the compound. The shacks were nothing but a loose collection of nails, plywood and corrugated iron sheeting. Then again, that's what everything looked like in this part of the wasteland. Far away from any of the large hubs of "civilisation" the people relied on what they had. Deeper into the site the loose gravel and dry earth gave way to cracked concrete paving around the warehouse, too thick to lay foundations in the locals had left it well alone giving a clear field around the looming structure.

"Good idea, if it's quiet there i'm calling everyone in to search. This place is a ghosttown for now, and i'd rather not be here longer than I have to be..." Laura muttered to Keara, keeping her hands away from the pistol at her hip.

The barracks was easily the second largest structure in town, and almost qualified to be called an actual building. It looked less rickety and more well used than anything else in town, probably doubled as a general meeting hall as well. Laura doubted it's use as a true barracks, this place looked more like everyone would have chipped in to fight when raiders arrived, a dedicated military branch would have been a bit beyond them.

"Okay, head around the back, see if you can get a look in through a window. I'm gonna see if anyones home" Laura said to Keara, moving towards the front door of the barracks.

Keara

"All clear," Keara said after checking the windows. She hadn't spotted anything, except a spatter of blood that had slowly dripped its way down...

"Wait!" she said to Laura, before she could open the door, "There's blood here. Kinda fresh."

[jack cloudy]

Jonathan

"You do that," The ghoul whispered his consent.
Jonathan took one last glance at the area he'd been observing before dropping to the ground and presseing his eye to the crack in the wall. Above him, Alexei who had now taken on the task of covering Jonathan and himself as well as his previous task of covering Laura and Keara, continued to whisper. Something about how he had felt since the beginning that the job Laura had found for them was too easy considering the promised reward. Jonathan didn't catch all of it, focussed as he was on observing the inside of the shack.

"Well, I just thought we were lucky at the time. We need the caps, and a hefty reward like this, it would solve all our problems." Jonathan whispered back. The interior of the shack was dark, lit up only by a grimecovered window. The stream of light from the window didn't even reach the spot where he was, so he could only make out vague shadows near his position. Mostly furniture judging by the shapes. A cabinet, a table and three chairs. Some small junk scattered about the floor and something just at the edge of his view.
"Got to take off these glasses, can't get my eye close enough with it in the way. Alright, I can see some more now."

As his eyes acclimatized to the darkness, he began to see more. His view still covered less than half the room, but that was more a matter of limited field of vision than lack of light now. The scattered junk wasn't junk, but shards of pottery lying in the dust. At the edge of his view, he saw a pair of legs lying flat on the floor. Jonathan groaned. Could it be?
"Maybe I just wanted to be lucky so I refused to see the situation for what it was."

He gestured at the Ghoul, forming a pistol with his hands as a sign to be ready for trouble.
"It's official. I've spotted at least one person in there and considering the uncomfortable posture, he's not taking a nap. There's also broken bits of pots or ceramic dishes around and..." He craned his head to look as far up as he could.
"Half a dozen bulletholes in the wall. This place has seen a fight and I bet it wasn't years ago."

He pulled himself away from the crack in the wall and put his glasses back onto his nose.
"It looks like you were right, friend. Let's get moving. Sooner we're done here, the better."

[ureniashtram]

Alexei

The ghoul hissed and looked around his surroundings in sudden alarm. It is possible that the attackers might still be here, looking and lurking. He had his RPG in a battle-ready position, ready to fire at any moment's notice.

"We need to inform Laura," he said after something dawned on him. "The barracks might be filled with the murderers!"

How could one call another with one not comprosing his position? By mimicking an animal and hope that they understand. Alexei removed his mask, placed his fingers on his lipless mouth and whistled like a singing bird.

[grif11]

Raymond

"dammit!" Raymond muttered to himself. He had seen and heard Alexeis warning call, confirming what he had heard. Part of him wanted to call everyone back and ditch the job, but the other part told him not to disobey his orders.

Raymond pulled his silenced .22 from his duster and made sure it was fully loaded, before sticking it in its holster, just in case.

[Dantrag]

Keara

At Laura's signal, Keara moved behind her boss, covering her while she opened the door. Immediately, the scout had to put a hand over her nostrils as the stench of death filled the air. Three stiffened bodies lay in the corner, piled on top of each other, as if they had been moved.

"I don't like this," she said to Laura, "This didn't happen all that long ago."

[Ahrenil]

((OOC:Sorry about the absence guys, computer troubles.))

Laura fought the urge to slam the door shut and retch in the bushes. The wasteland's numerous scavengers had already got to work, but the corpses remained fresh enough to tell that they couldn't be more than a few days old.

"You're right, but whoever did this isn't here now. Or else we'd be dead. Back off, lets head over to Alexei and Jonathon, theres no one here and I want use out of this place ASAP" Laura declared. She took one last look at the bodies, the dried blood splatters on the wall indicated that these people were taken unawares, probably sitting down, maybe eating dinner, talking about friends and family...

Laura shook her head, it was not use thinking about the dead, she had her own team to worry about first. "Keara, run across and tell them to meet me at the warehouse, I want to look through the warehouse. This contracts a dud, things have gone from bad to worse and I bet we were meant to be here when all these other saps got taken." Laura spat bile and hate into the bushes. "But we need caps, and we need them fast. And if theres anything in that warehouse we can loot we should damn well loot it. But I am NOT going to ask you all to go in there if you don';t want too. If you want to head back to Megaton that's what we'll do."

[Dantrag]

Keara

"I'm with you," she said, "If we have to stoop to scavenging for our caps, then we'll do it. Let's get inside that warehouse."

She moved towards Alexei and Jonathan, following the ghoul's bird-call. She found them by one of the shacks, examining yet another body.

"We found much of the same," she said to them, "This place is a ghost town. Laura thinks this job is no good. She wants us to regroup and get in that warehouse - we're thinking there might be some loot in there."

[jack cloudy]

Jonathan OOC: The body was inside the shack while Jonathan and Alexei were outside, so I'll have to make some slight changes to make things fit.


Alexei sent out a signal but other than that he stayed put, as did Jonathan. It was too risky to run across the open expanse that separated them from the warehouse. Not when they weren't certain they were alone. What they could do however, was open up an entrance into the shack they'd been hiding against. Jonathan had concluded after his peeking that the shack was empty apart from some flies and maybe a rat or two. He needed to get inside however to get some more clues. Most important on the list, gruesome as it might be, was to get a good look at the body he'd spotted. Depending on the state of composition and the location of its injuries, he would be able to make a better guess at when the poor fellow breathed his last.

"I'm no doctor, but I think I'd be able to make a rough guess. Preferably, I hope it is long gone. The less intact that man or woman is, the longer it's been here and the greater the odds that the killers have left the scene as well." He whispered at Alexei as he explained his plan.
"Can't get in through the door of course, that one is in plain view. Fortunately, this little building is barely more than some scrap plating crudely bolted onto a wooden frame. Shouldn't be too hard to remove part of the wall and make a gap I can use to get inside. Hell, it's half a miracle it didn't fall apart on its own."

In little more than a minute, Jonathan had managed to remove part of the wall and crawled inside. Now he could see the body properly. It was old, like the useless meat the butcher in Megaton tossed out behind his shop. Flies and their offspring gorged themselves on the rotten flesh and the mechanic felt the urge to vomit rise within his throat.

"We found much of the same," Keara said as she poked her head through the hole in the wall.
"This place is a ghost town. Laura thinks this job is no good. She wants us to regroup and get in that warehouse - we're thinking there might be some loot in there."

Jonathan sighed and shook his head.
"Personally, I just want to get out of here. But if we're the only ones here, I say we do some looting and at least get something for our efforts. Although, I doubt we'll find whatever it was we were supposed to pick up. It was probably something valuable so whoever did this must have made off with it. Still, can't hurt to check."

He crawled out of the shack and leaned the loose metal plate back against the gap it had covered.
"Let's go."



This post has been edited by jack cloudy: Jun 27 2011, 10:29 PM

[jack cloudy]

OOC: I'm not sure about the doubleposting, especially because I'm taking a bit of too much freedom with the last two posts. On the other hand, I don't want this rp to die yet and maybe this will keep things going. (This is the point where I realize that everybody has been moving/without internet/otherwise been too busy or unable to post)

Jonathan Guntherson

Alexei, Keara and Jonathan returned to the warehouse. On the way, Jonathan stopped for a moment and looked towards the hillside where he assumed gramps was hiding.
"Should I call him over? The place seems abandoned enough, but one can never tell. No, we're probably best off if we leave him up there where he can observe most of the town." He thought to himself. He did wave though in what he hoped would reassure Raymond that the situation hadn't detoriated into a shootout yet.
"Ergh, if only I could whistle like Alexei or knew some real signlanguage. Communicating across large distances is to vague like this."

Laura was waiting for them at the door. As they approached, she stepped aside just far enough to clear the opening. Jonathan only had to take one glance inside to see that Keara hadn't exagerated. The warehouse was indeed more of the scene he'd encountered inside the shack. Much more. Again the urge to relieve himself of his last meal made itself apparant and the mechanic clamped a hand over his mouth as he forced the bile back down.

"Ugh, how horrid....but I think I can manage. Anything in particular we need to look for, boss? I personally would like to look for a radios or components I can use to build some. It would improve our ability to coördinate with Gramps for example." He asked and took a second better look now that he had calmed down a bit. If he just ignored the origin of the rotting flesh, it wasn't too bad. What was somewhat dissapointing was the role the wharehouse had filled in the settlement. Jonathan had hoped it would be a place where goods and equipment were stored, as its name implied. Instead however, it seemed to be a community hall of sorts where everyone gathered to eat and socialize.
"There's probably a kitchen in the back though."

[grif11]

Raymond

Jonathons "OK" wave had made Raymond sigh, relieved it wasnt an ambush. Jonathon was a good man, and could fix & make just about anything they needed. At least when it wasnt his turn to cook.

As the rest of the team entered the warehouse, Raymond activated his old portable radio and found a weak signal from the Mojave. Ah, one of Eagles favourites, He thought.

[Ahrenil]

Laura looked up as they approached. It seemed that most people were in favour of doing some scavenging. The death and decay hadn't fazed Laura as much as it had before, after the initial shock back at the barracks this had been roughly what she was expecting from the warehouse. The putrid smell and buzzing of the flies was relegated to a back section of her mind, locked away to be dealth with later. Right now there was work to do.

"Radios and equipment are definately to be taken. Remember people, we have no heavy lifting. Take what we can carry. If you find a better weapon dump the current one. We want stuff we can sell as well, not something that takes your fancy. We're not in this for personal gain. Jonathon, if you find anything you think you can use grab Alexei and start hauling it out, we'll be needing it to keep us afloat since this jobs a dud. Otherwise, check the dead for caps and cola. Lets get to it." Laura declared.

She turned and made her way into the warehouse, she didn't check to see if anyone was following. It was likely they'd have misgivings, but they'd get over them. Looting a civilian wasn't far off looting a raider. And a damn site easier. She checked the pockets of a nearby man, or she though it had been a man, collecting a handful of caps and lint, a lot of it still blood stained. One cap still have a piece of lead shot wedged in it.

"Bastards came in here with heavy shotguns, tore the place to shreds. With everyone so tightly packed I doubt they even needed to aim, spray and pay." She muttered to no one in particular before moving on to another corpse, heading for some crates on the far side that looked fairly forgotten.

[jack cloudy]

Jonathan Guntherson

Jonathan nodded after receiving Laura's commands.
"Right, got it." He muttered and followed her inside the warehouse. He considered rifling through the pockets of the nearest corpse but decided against it while there were still other items of value around. As long as he kept his distance, he could mostly ignore the stench and the sight. But actually touching one of them would take him to his limit.
"They're worse off than Alexei. At least he moves which takes the edge off of his corpselike appearance." One of the corpses however was still wearing a backpack that looked in serviceable condition. Judging by that and the random bits of makeshift armour the man was wearing, Jonathan figured he had been one of the guards on a break. The backpack would come in handy, so with some effort and much looking away, he managed to slip it off.

"Alright, let's see what's in here. Canteen, bit dented but doesn't have leak. A clip of bullets...looks handmade." Jonathan weighed the clip in his hand and looked at the corpse again. Whatever gun they belonged to, it wasn't there. Probably either stored somewhere else or taken by the raiders. He bet it was the latter. There was always a demand for working firearms, no matter how crude. Regardless, later on he would check to see if he could make the clip fit any of the guns the company had.
"The rest is useless junk. Alright, moving on." The canteen and the bullets went back in the backpack while everything else was discarded on the floor.

Meanwhile, laura had moved over to some crates in the back. Jonathan rubbed his chin as he looked at her back for a moment. What would the crates contain? Food perhaps? Guns, caps, cans and bottles? They looked like they'd escaped the ransacking so maybe the raiders didn't have time to stay for long after the initial shooting. Finally he turned his attention away from the crates and looked for anything else that might catch his interest. The food on the tables wasn't any good. What hadn't been splattered all over during the shooting had long since decayed into a mess as rotten as its late consumers. They couldn't take the cuttlery either. Too heavy and their value wasn't all that much.

Resting on a wooden board mounted on the wall he found what he'd been hoping to find however. A radio, an old one. It had probably been used to liven up the place, or maybe to communicate with other nearby settlements. Too bad the plastic casing had several gaping holes in it. Jonathan drew nearer for a closer look.
"Well, here's a radio. Took a blast in the fight. It and the entire wall around it are peppered with holes. Looks like it could sent as well as receive which is probably why it's busted. They didn't want to let anyone call for help." He said aloud so.

"The sent/receive switch is still intact and still on receive. Flicking that one would take less than a second. More than enough to get something out if these poor sods had any chance to react..." On a whim, he stuck a finger in one of the wall's many holes to figure out a rough estimate of where the bullet had come from. He didn't like what he found.
"Damn thing got blasted from the door. Either the bastards have better eyesight than I do and the habit of ignoring all the people in front of them, or they knew where this radio was and had planned the whole operation...."

Jonathan shook his head violently. Now that was one thought he didn't want to finish. Not now at least. Swiftly, he unscrewed what remained of the casing to expose the radio's innards.
"Microphone, parts of the speaker and battery are salvageable. I'll grab those and leave the rest to the rats." Again he looked around, but couldn't see anything else right away that caught his attention. So he resigned himself to his fate and started sifting through the pockets of the corpses near him. He found a few caps, a watch that was still ticking and a pocketknife, but mostly dirt and useless pockettrash.

[Dantrag]

Keara

Keara rummaged through the random bits of scrap that these people once called belongings. She found a carton of cigarettes in the kitchen, lying in a metal box. Laura said not to take personally attractive things, but Keara knew that the things were like gold in towns, so she would keep some and sell some.

A bit more digging revealed some energy cells, which she loaded into her plasma pistol immediately. More scavenging revealed little; a handful of caps and a single unopened Nuka-Cola.

"I'm gonna step outside," she announced to everyone, yet no one in particular, "Smells in here."

She grabbed Lucky by the nape of the neck to get his nose away from the dead and exited the warehouse. Cracking open the Nuka-Cola and taking a cigarette from her new stash, she sat on the ground and enjoyed a short break.

Keara was halfway through her smoke when she saw figures appear on the horizon, moving in their direction. A look through her binoculars horrified her; she could recognize those dusters anywhere.

What should I do? They must be coming for me. If I told Laura that I was a criminal, she'd likely turn me in; she's an honorable sort. If I just run, they'll think they were right about me all along, that I'm nothing but a lying thief.

[grif11]

Raymond

"Regulators?" Raymond muttered to himself, spotting the men (and a couple women) through his scope. "Someone must of called for backup. This isnt going to look good for us."

It was obvious he would be of no more use up on the ridge, and slung his rifle on to his back."Best not let those regulators spot me," Raymond murmered before sneaking (which isnt easy when your 45 and in ranger combat armour) down the ridge, making sure the regulaters weren't watching.

[Dantrag]

Keara

Keara sat motionless for a few long moments, unable to decide on a course of action. Her heart was pounding like a super sledge, and she could feel the reverberations from it as far down as her toes. She'd been this scared a few times before, and each instance involved the Regulators. She'd heard rumors about their treatment of criminals, and it wasn't pretty. Wasteland justice was the harshest kind.

Lucky looked up at her curiously, as if he could tell something was amiss. Keara ignored him, wrapped up in her own worries. She decided to tell Laura that she was leaving. Her boss deserved that much at least.

What if she turns me in?

She took a deep breath, tossed her cigarette butt, and walked back inside the warehouse. She found Laura searching through some crates.

"I think we need to talk," she said, "Now."

[Ahrenil]

Laura made an audible noise of frustration, throwing a handful of cloth rags back into the crates. Looks like they had been filled with jumpsuits for the workers that must have been at the plant pre-war, but some moths had gotten in and between them and general age the clothing was no longer useful for anything but rags.

"Tell me you've got something good" Laura said as she turned towards the younger woman. But when she saw the girl's face, and recognised that tone of voice, she knew something was wrong. She put a hand on the girl's shoulder, as much to reassure her as to stop her running before she spoke.

"What've you seen?" Laura asked, one hand resting on her revolver.